Winfried Opgenoorth

Winfried Opgenoorth was born in Düsseldorf in 1939. After training as a rotogravure retoucher, he studied graphic design at the Werkkunstschule Düsseldorf from 1958 to 1961. From 1972 onward, he worked as an independent illustrator and graphic artist, initially focusing mainly on schoolbooks. In 1979, he created his first book of his own, “Hokuspokus in der Nacht,” based on a text by Mira Lobe; this led to a long-standing collaboration with the author. Opgenoorth also illustrated works by numerous other children’s authors, including Lene Mayer-Skumanz, Gerda Anger-Schmidt, and Christine Rettl. Among other distinctions, he received the Austrian Art Prize in 2012 for his picture-book illustrations.